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Sichuan spirit inspires Jockey Club chairman

Celine Sun

'Hongkongers should really learn from Sichuan people,' said Jockey Club chairman John Chan Cho-chak during his trip to the earthquake-hit areas in the province.

Mr Chan made a two-day visit last week to some of the hardest-hit counties in Sichuan province , where the club will sponsor the rebuilding of several schools and a hospital over the coming one to three years. He said he was amazed by the undaunted spirit he saw on his trip.

'After going through such a massive disaster, they do not get frustrated or wait for others' help,' Mr Chan said. 'They are doing whatever they can to help themselves without changing their positive attitude towards life.

'It's a very valuable quality to learn for those Hongkongers prone to depending on others' help when encountering difficulties.'

The Jockey Club will spend 400 million yuan (HK$455 million) on the first batch of four projects to address the victims' immediate medical and educational needs.

The projects include rebuilding Youxian Zhongxing Junior Middle School in Mianyang , constructing new buildings for No5 Middle School in Deyang , expanding Dujiangyan High School into an Olympic School and building a new wing for the Third Hospital of Mianyang.

The director of the Mianyang hospital, Huang Xuanyin, and hundreds of hospital medical staff have been working in the quake-damaged buildings since the devastating earthquake on May 12.

Cracks can be seen in the walls on almost every floor in the outpatient and emergency-treatment buildings.

The meeting hall on the top floor of the outpatient building had to be closed as it was too dangerous, Mr Huang said. However, the lower parts of the buildings are still used to treat hundreds of patients every day despite the risk of collapse.

'We have no option,' said Mr Huang. 'As the only major psychiatric centre in the city, the demand from patients suffering post-traumatic stress disorder or depression is huge.'

The earthquake, measuring 8 on the Richter scale, left more than 88,000 dead or missing and injured 3.5 million people.

Mr Huang estimated that about 30 per cent of the quake survivors in the worst-hit areas might suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

'It's now coming to the high-incidence time for various psychological illnesses in the quake-affected areas,' he said. 'It will be a tough challenge for us.'

The hospital's calls for help have inspired the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which will inject 80 million yuan to rebuild the main wing and purchase more rehabilitation facilities.

Education is another important issue that the club is addressing.

One of the four sponsored projects, the Olympic School, will recruit talented amateur athletes from across the province for sports training and general education.

The quake damaged more than 300,000 square metres of sports training schools and facilities, and 75 sports personnel and athletes died.

Kim Mak Kin-wah, the club's executive director of corporate development, said what made the school special was that it would provide education to amateur athletes and sports training to normal students.

The Jockey Club has taken a long-term perspective when picking the two middle schools to rebuild.

Both Youxian Zhongxing Junior Middle School in Mianyang and No5 Middle School in Deyang will be expanded to accommodate more students coming from the areas where schools collapsed.

Wheelchair-friendly services and rehabilitation facilities will be included for disabled students at both schools.

The four projects are expected to benefit more than a million people annually, the club said.

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